Rachel Berry owned a pink and yellow Victorian-style dollhouse. Kurt knew this because he saw it sitting in the corner of her bedroom when he last visited her home. He also knew that Rachel would do anything for Finn, even though Finn wasn't really much on speaking terms with Rachel at the moment. He was surprised to find that Finn didn't need much convincing at all to go over to Rachel's house to ask to borrow the item; Kurt had a sneaking suspicion that it was Finn's way of making up for being such a lousy ally over the time that Kurt had known him. His stepbrother returned with the dollhouse in tow, just barely managing to squeeze it and himself through the doorway to Kurt's room.

'How did you manage to get it?' Kurt asked, astonished to see it in Finn's possession.

Finn set the dollhouse down in the corner next to Kurt's beside table. 'Well, I sort of explained to her how bummed out you've been about school, so I said that you were practicing for a musical and you kind of needed it as a prop.'

'Finn…that's kind of genius,' Kurt replied, and he actually meant it. 'What musical?'

'Uh…Guys and Dolls?'

Kurt blinked back at him. 'And she bought it?'

'I guess,' Finn replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

Tiny footsteps muffled by the carpet reached Kurt's ears as Blaine walked into the room, having just visited the bathroom. He stopped short as he took in the sight of the dollhouse.

'Wow!' he said, his eyes sparkling as he looked between Kurt and Finn. 'Whose house is that?'

Kurt hadn't told Blaine about the dollhouse yet, and he felt a bit hesitant that Blaine wouldn't like his new living arrangements.

'Yours for the time being,' Kurt replied, biting his lip as Blaine hurried over to the white picket fence, laughing as he swung open the wooden gate and shut it behind him. Kurt crouched down as he watched Blaine make his way through the front door and up the stairs, finally reaching the terrace on the second floor. 'I mean, the bathroom is useless and there's no food in the kitchen, and the d�cor definitely leaves a lot to be desired…'

'There's so much room!' Blaine said, looking down over the front of the house from the terrace railing. Kurt could hear Finn's laugh behind him.

'I just thought…maybe you wanted some more privacy, and your own space. Not that I don't want you in my space. I mean, it's our space but…' Kurt huffed in frustration. 'I just want you to be comfortable.'

'It's perfect,' Blaine said, leaning his hands on the railing and tilting his head up at Kurt, his eyes dazed and faraway. 'When can I move in?'

…

Blaine loved the dollhouse. He had his own bedroom, a spare room for his clothes and the living room where he housed all his books and stationery. Burt and Carole had insisted on stocking the kitchen with food that wouldn't spoil, in case he was hungry for a late-night snack and didn't want to make the long trek downstairs. A small sheet was placed over the top of the dollhouse to serve as a makeshift roof and his mother's beret covered the chimney to keep out the draft. Kurt had become a little more careful while Blaine was occupying the house; he would knock on the front door and call his name softly instead of peeking through the roof.

It was two days after Blaine had moved in to the dollhouse when Finn entered Kurt's room. Kurt was reading on his bed; Blaine was lounging on a chair on the terrace, trying to think of a possible and realistic Christmas present he could give to Kurt.

'Kurt, can I speak to you for a moment?' Finn said, leaning his hand against the doorframe.

'Go ahead,' Kurt replied.

'Out here?'

Kurt sighed and dropped the book onto his bed. Finn flashed Blaine an apologetic smile before both boys disappeared out the door.

Blaine didn't really want to eavesdrop, but they had left the door open and his hearing was better than those more than ten times his size.

'So, uh, remember how I told you she, uh, bought it?' Finn's voice. 'She, uh…didn't buy it.'

'What?'

'I lied, okay? I told her I needed the dollhouse to cheer you up and she asked why and I told her it was for Blaine.'

'FINN!'

'I know, I knew you were going to yell at me but she was really convincing, Kurt, and she knew something was up. She always knows.' A pause. 'You know that movie, The Sixth Sense? It's like she has that or something.'

Blaine heard Kurt's loud and frustrated sigh. 'So, what happens now? She's going to tell everybody!'

'I don't know, but she'll be here in twenty minutes.'

'Twenty…' Kurt's voice faltered and Blaine heard quick footsteps as Kurt hurried back into the room. He looked towards Blaine before pacing up and down, placing a hand to his face in thought.

'Should I get changed?' Blaine asked, looking up at Kurt like one who hadn't spent the last minute eavesdropping. 'Are we expecting a visitor?'

'No…' Kurt said, not really listening. He looked at Blaine as if noticing him in the room for the first time. 'We need to hide you; yes, I think that is the best thing to do.'

'Kurt, hold on-'

'Blaine, find somewhere to hide away from that house and…and don't come out for half an hour, okay?'

'Kurt-'

'Blaine, will you just-' Kurt stopped as the sound of the doorbell reached the room. He ran out into the landing, not before whispering the word hide to Blaine again.

Blaine was, quite frankly, tired of hiding. If he was going to live in the dollhouse, he might as well meet its owner and promise to be a respectful tenant. He quickly traded his hoodie for a navy-blue cardigan, changed into his dark jeans and leapt from the roof of the house up to Kurt's bedside table. He could hear a female voice and conversation floating up the stairs so he hopped up on the alarm clock and waited.

A short brunette girl wearing a red swing cape and dark gloves entered the doorway, closely followed by Kurt. Kurt froze as soon as he saw Blaine, clearly not expecting him to be in his room in full view. The girl took a little longer to spot him, but when she did, she let out a squeal.

'Oh! Oh, how cute!' she gasped, rushing over to the alarm clock and bending over it. Her face was so close that Blaine shrank back a little.

'Rachel, you're scaring him,' Kurt pointed out behind her.

'But he's just so tiny and adorable,' she gushed, kneeling down and clasping her hands together. Knowing the name of what he guessed to be his landlord, Blaine cleared his throat and slid down from the alarm clock.

'Hello, I'm Blaine Anderson,' he said, smiling amiably and holding out his hand.

'I'm Rachel Berry,' she replied, placing her hands over her heart. Blaine withdrew his hand slowly. 'And it's such an honor to meet you.'

'It's lovely to meet you, too,' he replied pleasantly. She gasped loudly and turned to Kurt.

'And he's so polite!' Her large brown eyes returned to Blaine. 'I just want to put you in my pocket and carry you around with me all day.'

Blaine chuckled. 'Well, I am pocket-sized.'

'You don't have pockets, Rachel,' Kurt remarked flatly.

'Oh, shush!' She dismissed him by waving her hands behind her. Kurt responded with a glare, which Blaine was thankful she did not see. 'Finn and I are not on speaking terms at the moment, but what I'd really like this holiday season more than anything is a duet partner to practice with, someone that could keep up with me vocally or at least hold a tune, and I don't really mind how small they are in stature or lung capacity...' Rachel said this all rather quickly that Blaine was having trouble keeping up. 'Can you sing?'

Blaine smiled brightly. 'Of course,' he replied, and Rachel squealed again in delight. He was minding her dollhouse after all.

Rachel spent the remainder of the afternoon with Blaine, practicing a variety of songs that both were familiar with. She talked a lot about her future ambitions for Broadway and becoming a star of the stage. Kurt was asked to join in a number of times but he declined, preferring to stay on his bed and scowl over the page of his novel while he watched them sing. Blaine admitted that their voices did blend very nicely together and when it was time for her to leave, he promised to take her up on the offer of more duet practice before the competition season next year.

'I'm glad that's over,' Kurt said, walking back in to his room after having said goodbye to Rachel downstairs.

'She seemed like fun,' Blaine said, hopping back up on the alarm clock.

'She can be, in small doses,' Kurt answered before flopping down on his bed, though how he made it look so graceful was lost to Blaine. 'But there's only so much Rachel I can handle or listen to at a time.'

Blaine had noticed that Kurt wasn't stumbling over words and things to say like he usually did. He put it down to tiredness and apathy over the events of that afternoon.

'Would you like to listen to something else then?' Blaine said. He had been living with Kurt for over two weeks and he knew the time was right to finally open up about his past.

'I don't mind if you sing,' Kurt said, resting his head on the pillow and letting his eyes drift shut.

'I was thinking more along the lines of a story,' Blaine replied. He took a deep breath. 'Like the day I turned eight years old and became four and a half inches tall.'

Kurt's eyes opened quickly and he shuffled closer to Blaine on the bedspread.

'I would…I would like to like to hear that very much,' Kurt replied, the surprise apparent in his voice.

'Are you comfortable?'

Kurt adjusted himself on the pillow and rested his cheek on his hand.

'Yes.'

'That's good,' Blaine replied, placing his arms around his knees and hugging them up to his chest. 'Because it's kind of a long story…'